Abe Asher/Portland Mercury One of the biggest stories in Major League Soccer this season is not taking place on the field. On the first of March, just ahead of the beginning of the 2019 season, MLS unveiled a new fan code of conduct — which, among other things, banned the use of “political” signage in […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Reminder: If You’re Not Antifa, You’re Pro-fa
JULIE WILSON “Antifa” is short for “anti-fascist.” So what are you: anti-fascist or pro-fascist? I assume it’s the former. And yet too many Portlanders are buying into the narrative of the GOP, cops, and select media that antifa is just as bad (if not worse) than extreme right-wing, homophobic, and racist groups—such as Vancouver’s Patriot […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor: Expert Feedback
On a recent Thursday morning, two dozen volunteers armed with clipboards scattered across Portland searching for so-called “unwanted persons.” “These are the people we need to hear from,” said Street Roots director Kaia Sand, who coordinated the event. Every 15 minutes, 911 dispatchers in Portland receive a call about a person that building owners don’t […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor: Starting Line
The November 2020 elections are over a year away and, at the national level, most candidates are months into intense campaigning. But in Portland, candidates vying for one of the three City Commission seats that will be up for grabs have only just begun to poke their heads up. The city won’t accept official candidate […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor: No Concrete Evidence
During a recent Portland protest, a police officer confused vegan milkshakes with quick-drying cement and caused a national frenzy when the police bureau tweeted about it. No, this isn’t the punchline of a Portlandia sketch—it’s just the latest way Portland’s reckless police work has twisted the perception of our city. Saturday, June 29 marked 2019’s […]
Posted inOpinion
Insecure, Attention-Starved Right Wingers are Marching in Portland Saturday; Here’s How to Beat ‘Em
“Hi, just dropping in to troll you.” KENTON WALTZ Tomorrow (Saturday June 29) officially marks the beginning of “idiot right wingers from Vancouver traveling to Portland to stir up shit” season. Two competing groups of dummies—the Proud Boys and Haley Adam’s #HimToo nincompoops (apparently Patriot Prayer’s Joey Gibson can’t make it because he has other […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor: Camera Shy
For the past four years, $1.6 million reserved for Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) inaugural body camera program has sat untouched in the city’s coffers. Each year, Portlanders have been told that PPB is still researching how to roll out the project—and each year, Portland City Council has kept those funds cordoned off in its annual […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor: Protest Season Is Coming
It’s that time of year when the sunny days have cautiously begun to outnumber the gloomy ones and the lines for Salt & Straw begin to make a little more sense. In Portland, that can only mean one thing: Protest season is coming. Recent Portland summers have been marked by protests that appear to serve […]
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Hall Monitor: What’s the Point?
The volunteer committee tasked with reviewing Portland citizens’ complaints about the cops has one job: to examine police misconduct through an independent, outside lens. Or, as Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty recently described, a “regular-person perspective.” A police misconduct case currently before Portland City Council, however, has raised concerns that this unique police accountability body is […]
Posted inNews
Oregon Prosecutors Continue to Fight Criminal Justice Reform With Fearmongering
ALLISON KEREK Youth criminal justice reform is shaping up to be one of the most contentious issues in this year’s Oregon legislative session. Just in the last two weeks, Senate Bill 1008—a bill that would create a more humane, forgiving criminal justice system for Oregon minors—has been the topic of a heated House Judiciary Committee […]
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Hall Monitor: Shaking the Status Quo
Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s first three months in City Hall have been definitively successful. In February, Hardesty called on the city to sever its relationship with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), a group accused of unfairly targeting people of color. Three out of five city commissioners agreed with her. Weeks later, Hardesty revised […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor: New Guy
Everything about Mayor Ted Wheeler’s latest hire seems painfully deliberate. On April 2, Wheeler announced he’d hired former Portland police commander Robert King to serve as his newest senior policy advisor on public safety. Judging by King’s past—and Wheeler’s present—the appointment is as much a public relations strategy as it is a pragmatic hire. King […]